UpWork: How To Search And Apply For Jobs And What To Look For In Every Job Post

Hello! I was not able to post this last week and then when I got back, my draft was not saved. So here we go again, this post is for those who already have their Upwork account but are still clueless about how to look for jobs and what to actually look for.

So, you have your account approved by Upwork already, and you are itching to find your first job. BUT.. where do you start? What should you do? What jobs should you apply to? Sounds a bit overwhelming if you are just starting, right?

This post is for you, this is a rundown of what you need to look at when you go find a job.

Click Find Work

Type the keyword of your desired job in the search field. This will depend on you, the easy ones that I can think of now are,

-Virtual Assistant

-VA

-Writer

-Article Writer

-Blog Writer

-CS

That’s all I can think of now, but you go and mix-match your keywords to be able to search for your desired jobs.

What Do You Need To Look Out For?

When you enter or click search on the search bar, the list of jobs that has your keywords in it will appear and here are what you have to look for:

a. Job Type – Are you looking for a specific type? Only hourly or only fixed price? You can check here and filter your feed. In hourly jobs, you’ll be required to download the Upwork Team App, a time tracker that you’ll use to log in the hours that you work. For fixed price jobs, you don’t have to log in.

b. Experience Level – If you are just beginning, then you might want to uncheck the expert because these clients are looking for experts in the field already and may not be supplying detailed trainings for their hires.

c. Client History – For this, I also recommend that you uncheck the third one for the same reason that was stated in the previous item.

Title – Look at the title. This will be the first signifier if the job is for you or not. Just one look at the third job in the screenshot will let you know that it is not for you if you are not from EU.

Job Type – This is where you will see if the job post is hourly or fixed price.

Time Posted – This is very crucial information that a lot of people tend to overlook. You have to be mindful of the time that the job was posted. Ideally, you’d like to apply to jobs that are just posted. This will increase your chances of getting hired, compared to those that already have 50+ applicants.

Client’s Payment Status – Is the payment method of the client verified already? Ideally, you only want to apply to verified clients. With one exemption, if you see a job that you really want but the client is still unverified, there may still be a chance that you can apply. How? Click on the job title, (for me I use CTRL+Click or Open link in new tab, so my job feed will not disappear.) When you click the job, you’ll see this: In the lowest info, the client is a member since December 18. If the client has been a member for only 1-3 days, then it is okay to apply, because they might still be fixing their payment method. JUST REMEMBER to not start any job unless they get verified. This happens to me a lot, I get awarded final contracts by clients who aren’t verified yet, so what I do is tell them that I will start once they get verified, there is nothing wrong with that, after all, it is for both your protections. On the other hand, if the client has already been a member for more than a week and they are still unverified, then I suggest you stay off that job post. It’s better to be safe than sorry, right?

Rating and Amount Spent – If you think that clients are the only ones who have the right to judge us with the ratings and feedback we have on our profile, then you are wrong. We also can do that. When applying for jobs, it is important to look at the feedback of the client, if you see that there are a lot of feedback that says that they are not good clients, then it is best not to apply anymore. Here is an example of a good client standing: From the feedback, you’ll know right away that this client is a good communicator, a great client and also gives bonuses. You just have to click on the job and scroll down, you’ll see the client’s work history and feedback. From here, you’ll also get to see the rate of the other freelancers that he has worked with. You can plan our bid so as not to be so farfetched.
About the amount spent, if you are a newbie, you will want to look for those who spent LESS. These clients tend to be more flexible and more tolerating of adapting to their freelancers than those who already spent a lot and have already worked with a lot of freelancers. This are just my thoughts, of course, no one is stopping you from applying to jobs that you want.

What To Look For Inside The Job Post

So, you already chose the job that you want to apply to. Now, what should you be looking for?

Job Type

Level

When will the job start?

Details of the job

Qualifications of the job

Are there a lot of applicants already? Is the client interviewing someone already?

Is the client a good client, does he have bad feedback?

Does he have other jobs open?

You can try applying to these jobs too.

Go click on Submit A Proposal after reading the details.

These are information about the client.

There you go, I hope you now have a clearer idea on what jobs to apply to. In the next weeks, I’ll be tackling cover letters and profile videos.

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You can also visit this main blog where you can learn all you have to learn in detail. It is updated every now and then to make sure it will be packed with info.